So, yesterday was “Back to the Future Day,” and, perhaps in keeping with that spirit, WizKids seems determined to revisit certain Clix mechanics that have caused problems in the past and streamline them for the future. According to some, however, their fixes have actually exacerbated those issues and made the future Meta much more cloudy.

WizKids published two articles yesterday. The first one was a continuation of their popular “Design Insight” pieces that unveiled the new Eclipso and–perhaps more importantly–debuted the new “Possession” mechanic rules. Just as vehicles got a streamlining of their rules with the release of Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., so too did this mechanic with the (pre)-release of Superman/Wonder Woman.

Among the key passages from the article:

“Equip” will be a new term going forward to indicate when and how a character can be assigned a game element.  A character with such a game element on their card will be “equipped” by that game element. Once equipped, the equipped character can use the effects as described on the item’s card.  Most importantly, by default, a character can only be equipped with one item at a time (unless a specific game effect says otherwise).  During force construction, a character can’t be equipped with more than one game element. During the game, if a character is equipped with a second item, the previously equipped item will be KO’d and scored for your opponent if appropriate.

The reason for this change in wording to what we have seen on previously released figures with similar mechanics is that the new term “Equip” will serve as a key term to describe this particular game mechanic without having to write out the underlying rules for it on each character’s character card.  The “Equip” term, it’s restrictions and game effects will be included in the next HeroClix rulebook—but for now, we have included explanatory text on special powers/traits that utilize this mechanic in parenthesis:

To equip, place this on the standard character’s card. The character can use its effects. If the character is KO’d or equipped again, KO the previously equipped game element.”

Okay! And what constitutes an equippable “game element,” you might ask? Good question. The closest the article came to defining that is this passage:

“In general, a game element that is equipped to another character is still whatever the game element normally is (Relic, Resource Attachment, Special Object, etc.).”

Hmmm… so, like, does that mean that Resource Attachments (like, say, the Green Crossbow?) are now considered “game elements” that must be equipped? Because if so, that also means that Entities can no longer be used with Resources. This would be a potentially HUUUGE change–particularly in the Meta–that seems to have just kind of quietly been slipped into the game by WizKids.

Or has it?

Since this is 2015 and we have the internet which allows us to look up everything ever in seconds, Ninwashui ventured onto Facebook to find a clear and concise answer as to whether or not things like Entities can still work in conjunction with a Resource like, say, the Green Power Battery.

[EDITOR’S NOTE: Yes, I know WizKids calls it the “Power Battery (Green Lantern Corps)” or whatever, but that’s a mouthful. It’s the freaking Green Power Battery.]

Basically, responders to Ninwashui’s post quickly divided into two camps:

FIRST CAMP: As summarized by user David Newsom: “Guys, a game element must have the Equip mechanic, or Equip rules written on it to fall under this [new ruling]. You’ll still be able to have multiple constructs. They are not equipment.”

SECOND CAMP: As summarized by Ninwashui: “Well I think now it’s an Entity or a resource attachment, not both.”

The First Camp is basically contending that WizKids would not slip a potentially huge, Entity-nerfing ruling into a Design Insight article like that released today, or, if they did choose to do it like that, they would put it right at the top, in bold, so there would be no confusion. At the very least, if they intended for previously released Resources and their attachments to not work with Entities, they would have issued Errata for those Resources that changed their “Assign” verbage to “Equip,” in the same way that the article mentioned the forthcoming Entity Errata (which, as it turns out, was the subject of the second article WizKids released yesterday).

The Second Camp points to what was actually written in the article and has extrapolated what little clarity is there and come to the conclusion that Resource Attachments are now supposed to be Equipped. In a roundabout way, they feel, this passage–

“In general, a game element that is equipped to another character is still whatever the game element normally is (Relic, Resource Attachment, Special Object, etc.).”

–establishes that Resource Attachments are in fact an equippable game element in addition to being, well, Resource Attachments. And if Resource Attachments are equippable, than they can’t be used in conjunction with another equippable game element such as a Possessor (as equipping a second game element to a character would KO the first equipped game element unless there is specific card text saying otherwise).

Submissions to the Rules Forum have been made regarding this quandary, and I will update this post if the Powers That Be ever respond, but at the moment, we’re pretty much on our own.

Much more to come on this later this week…